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Neva Carter-Brown, carrying the flag, leads demonstrators in a march in front of the
County-City Building, but they had to stop because they did not have a marching permit.
About 40 people rallied Wednesday to support passage of the Equal Rights Amendment.
Protest calls for ERA
By Mark Ceorgeff
Staff Reporter
The president of the Lincoln
Lancastcr Commission on the
Status of Women, Patty
Pansing Brooks, said at a rally
Wednesday, that gender bias against
women should be one of the most
important issues for Americans to
be concerned with.
“We arc not here to disparage
the (lag or to criticize the Flag
Amendment. The flag is the most
powerful lasting and unifying
symbol we possess. Instead, we
arc here to focus public attention
to the last six words of the Pledge
of Allegiance, ‘... with liberty and
justice for all’,’’ Pansing Brooks
said.
About 40 people attended (he
commission-sponsored rally in front
of the County-City building, 555
S. 10th St.
Before Pansing Brooks’ speech,
signs with pno-Equal Rights Amend
ment slogans were carried by some
at the rally.
Some of the protestors’ signs stated
messages of concern over the still
unralified ERA and why national at
tention is focused on a proposed flag
amendment instead of the ERA.
A recent gender bias study released
through the University of Ncbraska
LincolnChanccllor’sCommission on
the Status of Women was among the
reasons that ‘ ‘compelled us to be here
today,” Pansing Brooks said.
“In Lincoln. Nebraska, we have a
university which continues to dis
criminate against women at all lev
els,” she said.
She also named the Nebraska
Supreme Court office’s study con
cerning the Nebraska court system
and the proposed flag desecration
amendment to the United States
Constitution as reasons for the gath
ering.
“If the cost in dollars and energy
and emotion is not too great to pursue
a Constitutional Amendment to pro
tect the flag... certainly, it is not loo
great to amend the Constitution to
protect over 53% of our Nation’s
population,” she said.
Pansing Brooks also said that
local shelter homes for women
and children, the Lincoln Food
Bank and oilier such social serv
ices arc in urgent need of assis
tance.
Malcom resident Carita Baker
said she thinks there is loo much
emphasis on the flag amendment
and not enough on gender bias.
“I wouldn’t bum the flag itself
when there’s more serious issues
to be concerned with,” she said.
Ada Munson, a commissioner
with the Nebraska Coalition for
Women, said, “We find so much
concern in areas where little dam
age is done instead of where no
attention is being given.”
Virginia Nelson, one of 28
members of the Lincoln-Lancas
ter Commission on the Status of
Women, said, “I think it’s really
important that the ERA hasn't been
ratified yet.”
“It’s a time warp. These arc
battles thatarc still being fought,”
Nelson said.
Official says national
ranking may mislead
By Matt llerek
Senior Editor
Even though a recent report re
leased by a national organiza
tion showed that state financ
ing for higher education in Nebraska
had the third highest percentage in
crease in the nation from 1987 to
1989, a UNL vice chancellor said the
percentage figures can be deceiving.
Irvin Omtvedt, vice chancellor for
Institute of Agriculture and Natural
Resources and chairman of the Ad
Hoc Operations Budget Review
Committee, said that when the Uni
versity of Nebraska gets an additional
$1 million, that is likely to be a higher
percentage increase than in states that
give more money to higher educa
tion.
Omtvedt said he wasn’t surprised
to sec Nebraska ranked as high as it
was because the support figures,
published by the National Associa
tion of State Universities and Land
Grant Colleges, were based on per
centages.
In terms of operating finances, UNL
ranks last among eight of its peer
institutions, Omtvedt said.
The average for UNL’s peer insti
tutions was 7.4 percent, with UNL
bringing up the rear with 2.2 percent
operating costs, he said.
me snoriagc ot i in antes at uinl
has deteriorated to the point where
instructors arc unable to give hand
outs to their students because printing
costs are too high, Omtvcdl said.
Quality programs at UNL are
“adversely impacted by inadequate
budgets,” he said.
State Sen. Jerome Warner of
Waverly said the percentage increase
was high in part because in 1981/82,
’85 and ’86, the Nebraska Legislature
made across-the-board cuts in the entire
state’s budget, including money that
would have been used for higher
education.
Warner said it is unlikely that
Nebraska higher education will re
ceive the same percentage increase in
the future as it received from 1987
89.
The percentage will probably go
down, but he said he couldn’t specu
late how much the decrease would be.
He said the decrease will depend
on how the economy behaves and on
how many new programs the legisla
ture enacts without raising taxes.
He said the reason the percentage
was so high from 1987-89 was be
cause financing for higher education
in Nebraska was below standard and
had to be brought up to par.
See RANKING on 2
Selleck open for housing
By Christine Pillard
Staff Reporter
Chis is the first summer Scllcck
Quadrangle has been open for
summer housing, and it will
remain open year-round, according
to Douglas S. Zatechka, director of
housing at the University of Nebraska
Lincoln.
During the summer pre-session,
250-260 students had housing con
tracts, Zatechka said, more than twice
as many as in past years. He said the
Office of University Housing never
expected that many contracts.
All students who want to slay in a
residence hall during the summer must
live in Scllcck this year, he said.
In past summers, students stayed
in Smith Hall, Zatechka said, but
because of noise complaints from other
groups staying in the complex for
summer camps, students were sepa
rated from the campers, he said.
The Scllcck complex’s central
location and handicap accessibility,
combined with the recent installation
of central air conditioning and an
elevator, make it better suited for
year-round housing, Zatechka said.
But food service is not available at
Scllcck during the summer, he said.
Students do not have to pay for a meal
plan, but those who do arc served
their meals at the Harpcr-Schramm
Smith dining hall.
Zatcchka said the arrangement is
not the most convenient way to offer
summer food service, but one reason
the kitchen isn’t open is because there
arc not enough students in Scllcck
with meal plans to make it feasible.
It takes 350-400 students with meal
plans to break even, he said, and with
the number of students right now, a
$110,000 loss would be suffered if
the Scllcck dining hall was open. To
keep it open, the rates charged to
students with meal plans would have
to be exceedingly high, he said.
For a 5-week session this summer,
Zatcchka said, living in a double
occupancy room with a meal plan
costs $222 more than without meals.
He said the number of students with
meal plans is down from last summer.
Housing officials arc looking at
other options that would allow- Scllcck
dining hall to remain open, Zatcchka
said. The dining facility is large enough
to accommodate most groups, so it
would be possible to have Scllcck and
one other kitchen open and have
temporary guests walk a few blocks
for their meals, he said.